Why “Benchmarking” is so important
I see so many businesses spending vast amounts of money launching new ideas and product range extensions etc without carrying out a thorough competitor analysis first (benchmarking) and they wonder why it sometimes fails. The most fundamental part of any product development and marketing is research.
A company approached me recently and asked why their website isn’t bringing in any way near the amount of enquiries they were expecting compared to their friendly competitor and also why their search engine ranking is so poor. I asked a simple question “did you benchmark your threat competitors before you spent thousands on designing your website?” “No we didn’t” they replied!
I have conducted for them a comprehensive benchmarking report which entailed 26 of their nearest competitors, from this you can tell immediately who is on the ball and who are the biggest threat. I have worked with my client and re-designed their website in-line with competition and beyond. Google ranking has now dramatically improved by using SEO techniques. Their enquiries are also improving and attracting custom outside the box, those previously not targeted. Although it is still early days the improvement is working. If only they had benchmarked in the first place!
What are your thoughts?
